You already know that I didn't go to bed until after midnight last night and was up at seven this morning to study. I surprisingly wasn't tired at all. I forgot to tell you that I got an email from Caroline saying that she couldn't meet for dinner today and just to drop off the phone and the book in her mailbox whenever I get the chance. Here is what she wrote:
Dear Michaela,
I am so sorry I will miss you before I leave, but there is so much I still have to do before Saturday morning that I am afraid I won't have enough time for dinner Friday night.
But you will be back some day in Paris and we will catch up on everything you will have done in the mean time.
No worry about the phone, you can put it in an envelope and leave it inside our mail box before you return to the U.S. The code of the building is 107AB and you can access it anytime. Name on box is Alalof Pierce.
I hope you found a solution for your suitcase. Knowing how hard you work, I am sure your exams will go well and you will have excellent grades, and then it will be time for you to have a lovely vacation in Spain and plenty more museums.
It was really nice getting to know you and I wish you were not leaving, but let's stay in touch and please let me know what you decide to study in Grad school. Trust your inner voice, it is always the best of all confidents when you need to make a big decision.
Je t'embrasse et tres joyeuses fetes!
Caroline
I embrace you. I love Caroline. I'm sorry that I didn't get to say goodbye to her, but I'm sure that I'll see her soon enough. I replied to her email and then got straight to work. I made myself a cup of sugary coffee and heated up the last of my mexican rice (which I somehow grew to love despite it being salty). I sat at my small table so that my computer could charge while I worked on my French presentation. I'm doing one slide each today and today's topic was what place represents Paris for you. I picked a boulangerie and was actually able to find the boulangerie on the corner near where I turn into Le Marais. I chose the slide style and it had a picture on it. The picture was of a painting that I had seen at LACMA when I went with my mom a few years ago. I love the painting. It really changed the way I look at art. It made me smile to see it. I set it as my desktop picture so that I could see it while I work.
I finished the slide quickly and then wrote out the sentences in a second document. Next up was writing my first histories essay. I felt a little frantic because I was afraid to be over the time limit of 45 minutes. My ideas came out but they weren't very polished...yet. I was really surprised to see that I wrote the essay in 36 minutes. I think that I'm going to keep aiming for 36 minutes so I don't run out of time like I did for the midterm. After the essay I started studying for pop. I studied for an hour and managed to finish all of rock métis and the hip hop lecture. I broke out my cat's tongue cookies because I was starving. The day after I drink I always feel really hungry. Next was starting to study for French. I made a list of all the things that I need to know and then opened my book to chapter six and covered each item as I came to them in the book. I got about halfway through with my french studying before I needed a break.
I made myself a cup of coffee and then returned to studying for pop. I finished the other two lectures despite still being sleepy and then wrote my second histories essay. This essay was frantic too and my ideas didn't come out very well. Good thing I have a few more days to practice before the big shebang. I also wrote this essay in 36 minutes. Maybe it's a new trend for me. Next I...wait. I'm not sure if that's in the right order. I think after this I finished the rest of my French studying. Yeah, that seems right. I've decided to aim for an 80% on all of my finals. I realize that I'm not perfect and that I have a lot of material that I need to cover. If I get an 80% on all of my finals I can still probably get an A- in all of my classes. That is starting to sound more and more reasonable to me. I think I'm at that stage in the finals process where I'm just ready to settle and do my best. I need to stay calm and avoid another meltdown.
Anyway by 3:30ish I was studying for pop. I had taken a small break to put the stamps on the five letters I was going to send. After my break I started studying for pop. I got through one lecture and then my stomach started to growl. I made the last of my cream of mushroom soup and poured myself a glass of cranberry juice. Immediately after lunch my stomach began to hurt and I was afraid that I would be sick. I managed to slowly go through the old pop lectures until about 4:30. I then took a break to start packing/cleaning my apartment. I took pictures of everything (even the closet and dirty dishes in the sink) and then set to work. I put on Little Willow by Paul McCartney and I Do Sing For You by Majical Cloudz. I cleaned off the bottom shelf of the freestanding shelves next to my desk; it only had brochures that mom had given me when I first moved in but never used. I then started the task of sorting through the papers on the desk and the bottom drawer. It was a mixture of school papers, metro tickets, and things from my travels like train tickets and art museum brochures. I kept all of the sentimental things and threw away all of the school related things and the welcome packets from Accent. I won't miss those.
By 5:15 I was back studying for pop. I only did one lecture (the Serge Gainsbourg) before I was ready to take a break. I wanted to get something done from my list today and it has been nagging me that I haven't seen Moulin Rouge yet. I had this impression that it was on a hill and would be really cool to see. I feel the need to at least see it since it's so famous. I got dressed and wrote down the instructions. I would have to take the dreaded 14 out there. I was nervous already. I got to Gare de Lyon and managed to find my way to the 14 through the huge crowd of commuters. Once you go down to the area where the 14 and RERs are you have to keep scanning your ticket/navigo to go through a continuous series of gates. I didn't realize it until after I had scanned my ticket, but I accidentally used a new ticket when I went through the second gate! Oh the horrors! I started hoping that the station I got off at would have a turn style that was easy to hop over. I didn't want to waste another ticket.
I got on the 14 and it wasn't crowded at all. A ton of people got off the train when I got on so I was able to get a seat. I wrote the 14 to Saint Lazare and then had to transfer to the 13. It turns out that Saint Lazare is a major station. There are escalators and crowds and arrows and all sorts of things everything. I got lost on the way to my train but managed to correct myself and follow the crowd to the 13. I noticed the sign that shows the train stops and that the train would split into two different directions. The directions that I had written down had listed all of the four different names (two for each direction) and I figured that I'd figure it out when I got to the platform. Boy was I wrong. There was no sign near the platform so I went back to try to find the sign. I didn't find it but decided instead to look at the metro map. I figured out which direction I needed to go and waited for a another train. The platform was really crowded. I noticed that the sign that says the number of minutes before another train comes had a light up arrow next to each direction so you knew which train was on the track. I never saw that before. I had also never seen train workers regulating how many people get on the train. I guess the train gets so busy that people try to force their way onto the train and end up holding up the service. I felt scared.
I got on the train and looked at the map. I knew that I was going to stop Clichy, but there were three different Clichy's! I looked at my directions and found the right Clichy. It turns out that I was going to a stop before the split so I didn't have to pay attention to which train was on the track. Whoops. I got off at my stop and found my way to the street. I knew that it was pouring down rain earlier in the day, but it had long since stopped. It decided to start up again after I got off the metro. I also didn't realize that there are three different streets named Clichy in that area. I wandered around for a bit before finally figuring my way around. Christina was right. The neighborhood is sketchy and there were tons of people and cars everything. Despite the fact that it was nighttime the street was as bright as daylight. I found Moulin Rouge, took a few pictures, and then went back to a metro stop that I saw closer than the one I got off at.
I got to the metro and scanned one of the tickets. It worked! I then realized that this stop was for the two and not the 13 that I had taken there. I knew that I could take the 12 from Pigalle and find my way home eventually so I took that option. I took the two to Pigalle then transferred to the 12 and took that to the one at Concorde and took that home. My whole excursion took two hours. I came upstairs, finished my last pop lecture on punk quickly, addressed my Christmas cards, took a shower, and then made myself some ramen to eat while watching the newest episode of South Park. I was so busy yesterday that it didn't even cross my mind to watch it.
I was supposed to be lights out one minute ago. Oh well.
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